--- title: "Governance on Site Factory" date: "2024-02-14T06:18:38+00:00" summary: "Discover how to implement effective platform governance for Acquia Site Factory. Learn about platform layers, profile configurations, and best practices to ensure sustainable architecture and maintenance." image: type: "page" url: "/site-factory/governance-site-factory" id: "01f06208-2d07-406a-ae60-785ded0d8453" --- This page provides Site Factory-specific information relating to our [Acquia platform governance recommendations](/governance). To better ensure your success with Site Factory, you should implement _platform governance_ practices, which can help you and your organization ensure you build, architect, and maintain your platform in a sustainable manner. Platform governance is a decision-making framework that enables your organization to assign ownership, set priorities, and define shared guidelines, standards, and processes for all platform users. As you review our general, product-agnostic [governance strategy documentation](/governance) to prepare your product implementation plans, be sure to also incorporate the Site Factory-specific features described on this webpage. Before you determine the most appropriate configuration for your organization, familiarize yourself with the Site Factory platform’s layers, and the facets of each layer that you should consider when developing your governance plan. Note Acquia offers workshops and customized assistance in planning your organization’s governance strategy. For details, contact your Account Manager. Platform functionality by layer ------------------------------- When determining what needs your platform will serve, you should examine the websites you intend to migrate to your platform to determine their common needs. These needs can be grouped into the following categories: * [Platform](#acsf-governance-platform-layer): Core functionality of your platform, underpinning all functionality you build * [Back-end functionality](#acsf-governance-back-end-layer): Features and functionality available for managing, creating, and interacting with content * [Front-end layer](#acsf-governance-frontend-layer): Content in your websites, and its formatting and display Your planning should focus on identifying common, reusable features that will be useful to all websites on your platform, instead of identifying one-off needs for specific websites. You should not begin your platform development until you have defined your profile architecture. Developing without a plan increases both cost and the likelihood of architectural mistakes that must be undone later, costing your organization time and money. ### Platform layer The _platform layer_ is the core upon which your entire platform is built. You should select stable, feature-rich technologies that enable you to extend and customize features instead of forcing you to work around limitations later as your needs grow: * _Site Factory_: Provides built-in support, monitoring, and website management tools * _Drupal core_: Standard release of Drupal, containing basic features common to content management systems * _Management tools_: Applications that automate project setup, enforce best practices, and speed platform setup * _Base distribution_: Distribution built on Drupal core that provides additional tooling and speeds development ### Back-end functionality layer Building on the platform layer, the _back end layer_ extends the platform with additional features and customizations. Although organizations can have different functionality needs, the following items are common: * _Base theme_: Theming framework, such as [Bootstrap](https://www.drupal.org/project/bootstrap), which can be overridden by website-specific themes, to customize appearance and retain core structure and functionality * _JavaScript files_: Scripts provided by modules or themes to enhance functionality, often provided as part of global JavaScript modules * _Modules_: Core set of features available to all websites, including common features such as search, social sharing, and ratings * _Content types_: Blueprints for content types, including standard fields and architecture * _User management_: Functionality and appearance of user registration and management * _Analytics_: Common forms of measuring activity and engagement * _User forms_: Consumer-facing forms that users may fill out and submit * _Search engine optimization (SEO) features_: platform characteristics that follow SEO standards and conventions, such as `robots.txt`, sitemap.xml, and schema files * _User data protections_: A secure and compliant system for the collection of personally identifying information (PII) and user account management, including single sign on (SSO) and social media sign-in * _Workflow management_: Set of standard workflow options, permissions, and roles for managing content approval and publication ### Front-end layer Your _front-end layer_ includes your content, its formatting, and its layout. This layer will involve, but is not limited to, the following criteria: * _Content_: Text, images, and videos * _Look and feel_: Items such as objects, custom fonts, text colors, background colors, and logos that can be configured by variables inside of a website’s base theme * _Content layouts_: The arrangement of objects and components on a page, and how they react to changes in screen size * _Advanced Cascading Style Sheets (CSS)_: Any website-specific CSS styling that cannot be configured using variables in the website’s base theme After identifying your needs in each of the layers, you can determine which profile configuration meets your needs. Profile configuration on Site Factory ------------------------------------- After reviewing the layers of your platform, you are ready to determine the best profile configuration for your organization. Some common profile configurations in Site Factory are as follows: * _Baseline distribution with no profiles or sub-profiles_: Changes to the distribution immediately affect all websites on the platform, and individual features can be enabled or disabled on a per-website basis * _Single profile for all websites_: Features of the distribution can be overridden globally, and subthemes of the base theme can be provided * _Multiple profiles available to websites on the platform_: Features of the distribution can be overridden in some profiles but not others, and subthemes can be provided per profile, increasing flexibility * _Multiple profiles available to websites on the platform, with multiple nested sub-profiles_: Features of the distribution or of profiles can be overridden for groups of similar sites, increasing both flexibility and complexity Additional information ---------------------- For additional, in-depth information about creating a governance strategy, see [Planning your governance strategy](/governance).